My Brother's Keeper organization provides furniture to needy

My Brother’s Keeper, an Easton-based Christian charity that gifts furniture to those in need, has started to spread its good into Fall River and other local communities.

Deborah Allard

My Brother’s Keeper, an Easton-based Christian charity that gifts furniture to those in need, has started to spread its good into Fall River and other local communities.

Two weeks ago, the organization delivered an apartment's worth of furniture to Jean, a 70-something Fall River grandmother going through a rough time.

Jean recently lost her only son to AIDS and is raising her teenage grandson, who has special needs. The two had been living in an empty apartment and sleeping on blankets piled up on the floor.

Jim Orcutt, who founded My Brother’s Keeper in Taunton with his wife, Terry, 25 years ago, was among the volunteers to bring beds and other furniture to Jean and her grandson.

“She said, ‘I can’t believe this. (My grandson) is going to be so happy when he comes home from school and sees his bed,’” Jim Orcutt said.

My Brother’s Keeper opened its second facility in Dartmouth on Sunday. The charity has a goal of serving Dartmouth and communities to the west, such as Fall River and Rhode Island's East Bay towns. In 2014, it will extend services to New Bedford and other communities to the east.

The charity is on track to make about 200 furniture deliveries to Fall River families this year.

Jim Orcutt said the charity’s goal is to “lift the hopes of the downtrodden.”

The charity was serving 34 communities and has now widened its coverage area to 50 communities in the Boston and Fall River diocese.

Besides celebrating its 25th anniversary and a new facility, My Brother’s Keeper expects to make its 100,000th furniture delivery in December.

The service is open to everyone in need, regardless of religion.

Bishop of the Fall River Diocese George W. Coleman offered prayers and blessings at Sunday’s open house at My Brother’s Keeper.

“I am so grateful to My Brother’s Keeper for setting up an office here in Dartmouth,” Coleman said.

After the blessing, there was a tour of the 9,000-square-foot, warehouse-style facility.

The building is split into departments, similar to a retail store. Living room furniture, kitchen tables and chairs, and dressers are in the middle aisle. Beds, refrigerators, dishes and linens are on one wall. Household items, electrical appliances and the box-spring workshop are on the other wall. There’s also space for furniture repair, loading docks, offices, restrooms and a prayer room.

The facility is set on 5 acres in Dartmouth, The charity does not release its address to the public in order to discourage anonymous furniture drop-offs.

Volunteers pick up furniture from donors at no cost. Once it is cleaned or repaired, it is delivered to those in need.

Erich Miller, president of the organization, said it is a “privilege to serve” with My Brother’s Keeper.

“Over the past 25 years, we have seen with our own eyes and felt with our own hearts,” Miller said. “The Lord calls us to go forth and spread the good news.”

Miller said the opening of a second facility had been a “lot of hard work but absolutely remarkable."

"We’ve been warmly welcomed by SouthCoast leaders,” he said.

My Brother’s Keeper gets no local, state or federal funding. It relies solely on in-kind donations and funds from several foundations.

“We’ve got a lot to be grateful for,” Miller said.

Josh Smith, director of the Dartmouth facility and a former Fall River resident, said he’s “witnessed a groundswell of support” for the opening of the Dartmouth building.

Smith started with the organization as a volunteer while he was a student at Stonehill College. He said his experiences “changed his life.”

“Serving the poor became my passion,” Smith said. “The need is greater here than any other community we serve.”

The organization is looking for donations of couches, loveseats and chairs, coffee tables, end tables, lamps; twin, full and queen size mattresses and box springs, dressers and night stands, kitchen tables and chairs, refrigerators and microwaves.

To learn more about My Brother’s Keeper, visit www.MyBrothersKeeper.org or call 774-305-4577.

Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.

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